Sonichris wrote:

Were you upset with the nastygram? Or did you chalk it up to "You can't please everyone"? Have you gotten other feedback regarding the dancers?

+1 Play Chris' questions to the end of the tape & you'll have your answer.

Wes
SoCal ex-pat with a snow shovel

DISCLAIMER: The above is opinion/suggestion only & should not be used for mission planning/navigation, tweaking of instruments, beverage selection, or wardrobe choices.

I've been following and keeping to myself about it, but hey, what he hell... it's a discussion forum and the post is looking for perspective.

I fully respect, support and believe in "to each's own". You do you.

For me, I'm not a fan. Could have something to do with having daughters in middle and high school and that my family come to their fair share of our gigs. I'd feel awkward as hell having my wife and teen age daughters walk by with dancing bikini girls up on stage.

And, context is everything. If you accept a gig supporting a burlesque show in a night club, completely different context. If I go in, I know what to expect. Afternoon, public place, open community space... different context. Again, context matters.

Never gonna please all folks all the time, so if you are happy knowing you'll likely be putting off some reasonable amount of others, and don't feel it takes away from the band (Hey, Look! Never mind us, here are some jiggling girls and lady parts!)... well, you be you and carry on. Be true to yourself and no one else.

Just sayin' it wouldn't be me. And if I were walking by the setting in the video at the start of the thread, despite my love for the music and appreciation for the talent, I'd keep on walking. I'm ok if that's a minority view. And stay off my lawn. No, really, don't trample my Bermuda!

Fady

El Mirage @ ReverbNation

BTW,
Clint is live on KCR Radio right now. I'm listening and enjoying...

Surfcat

2023 SG101 Compilation - Tribute to Noel
The Journey Home - Agent Octopus (Our SG101 Comp download)

From Atlantis with Love - Released - July 2023
Agent Octopus-Spotify
Christmas on the Beach - NEW SINGLE Dec 2023!!
Reverb Galaxy - Angle of Attack CD - BANDCAMP

Surf, the most dangerous of all musical genres...

Good point Ted!
I do think the "Beach Party" movies and Candy Johnson helped ignite the go go dancer craze and it's association with surf, such as it was.

Here's The Trashmen with a dancer in a cage. Also find it interesting that The Trashmen were still playing a lot of surf in 1965-67.

"You can't tell where you're going if you don't know where you've been"

Last edited: Sep 14, 2017 19:17:43

Good historical perspective Ted!

The Kahuna Kings

https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Kahuna-Kings/459752090818447

https://thekahunakings.bandcamp.com/releases

Things like wrestling masks and dancers have been overdone to the extreme in this genre. We prefer to let the music do the talking!

I love the pop culture and genre references of surf music. The visuals are just part of what makes it fun. Good surf music can always be enjoyed with your eyes closed, but call it dinner and a show or bread and circuses, when I go to a live show, I enjoy having something to see.

Matching shirts? Love it! Fez? Wear it. Mask? Put it on. I got a kick out of watching Seawhorse's leader stick a saxophone into the mouth of a horse head mask and wail. Daikaiju? Well, what they do is hard to describe, but I hope they keep doing it. It's all just part of the experience.

Surf music was born at at time when the baby boomers were coming into their own. Anything that caught their interest became huge. And that early-60's period was particularly rich in pop fodder. The space race, James Bond & the whole spy craze, hot rods, Shock Theater & Famous Monsters of Filmland, beach movies, rock & roll (and go-go dancers). Millions of kids were ready to eat it up. And it all was absorbed by surf music and became part of its DNA.

As far as go-go dancers... (ahem) go, the bikini and mini-skirt were icon's of the 60's. Out of place at a classical symphony, but spot on the money for surf music. Considering the number of dancers featured on TV and in the movies, I was pretty much desensitized before I hit my teens. I won't say whether that is good or bad, but I can hardly believe that anyone was truly offended enough to write. So many more things to worry about, but it's a free country, if that's her line in the sand she is welcome to it.

I love the many surf sub-genres and influences. For fun, let's see if we can count 'em. I don't know if official names have been assigned and codified anywhere, so feel free to join in.

Traditional surf (Surfy surf)
Horror surf
Spy surf
Noir/Detective surf
SciFi/Space surf
Spaghetti Western surf
Hot Rod surf
Surf Punk
Middle Eastern
Spanish/Mexican

-Tim
MyYouTubeChannel
My Classic Instrumental Surf Music Timeline
SSS Agent #777

Hey all! This feed is a fun read!

I'm the drummer of the Kahuna Kings and here's my two cents....

Akron, OHIO doesn't have a beach. Akron, OH. doesn't have a music scene. Akron, OH is currently trying to reinvent its self by embracing the HipSter culture. It is frustrating.

Musically, Akron is known for DEVO and Chrissie Hynde who both hailed from, and celebrate Akron to this day. Most currently we had The Black Keys explode on the scene, but they did it by LEAVING Akron. In N.E. Ohio people do not go to concerts and they do not like live bands unless they happen across a "festival" filled with food and arts vendors and there just happens to be large stage that hosts cover bands blasting out the "greatest" hits of the eighties!

I'm an artist, I paint, sculpt and build whimsical things. I found the Kahuna Kings through a conversation held at a drink and draw that I host.... I was speaking to an attending artist about how I'm building a cocktail drum kit that I plan to paint to look like a Tiki, but how could I ever play in a band with a tall tiki on stage?? To which the artist replied "I'm in a surf band..." and "Viola!!" here we are!

The "Lava Ladies", our troupe of dancing bikini clad dancers, dance on the stage side on top of Tiki Heads that have glowing red eyes and smoke blasting from their nostrils. The idea for the band is mostly just putting on a fun show and hopefully enticing people to come out for the show and the music. For me, its a way to blend my two worlds into one project! I love building sets and props, decorating the lawn for Halloween, creating fun aesthetics, and banging on drums!

Perhaps, as mentioned by an earlier posting, we're just grazing the surface of our aesthetic, to which I agree, but The Kahuna Kings are new and we're knocking the chinks out of the armor as we go. Possibly, we need to dive all in and take our Tiki theme and create a full back story where we hail from a lost island deep in the polynesian pacific where we surfed raging waves of lava and joined forces with the Lava Ladies to fight off the evil ancient tiki gods who threaten the world with destruction via hurricanes, typhoons and tidal waves! (I may have put some thought into that!) In my opinion it's all for fun.

As far as performing surf for the sake of playing surf and not having a "cheesy", "overdone" or even a historically inaccurate show... I say "fuggedaboutit!" The Kahuna Kings don't reside in a region that will ever provide much support for instrumental bands, who insist on pushing reverb over metal distortion or country twang. We might have the luxury of performing for theater fans, Tarantino fans, a few baby boomers who enjoy the throw back sounds of surf, the rockabilly - hot rod - tiki bar flies, the fans of burlesque, and yes, even the occasional perv who gets excited over mundane swimsuits seen on any warm day, at every swimming pool, or in the Walmart summer circular, etc... Again, we're just in it to have fun!

We, or maybe I should say "I", love the surf rock genre and performing this music! I like the diversity within the genre, the mask wearers, the suit guys, the traditionalists, the whimsical folks, I love it all. And as long as the band will have me and each other, I plan to keep rolling with it!!

And as far as offending an occasional feminist, the opinionated, the sheltered, etc.. I must say, The Kahuna Kings are offending far less people then every Metal or Punk band I've had the pleasure (or misfortune) of playing with in the past! This is the most positive, upbeat and fun project I've ever had the pleasure of being in!

Surf On!

Gangsta surf?
soooo...

When I happen upon something I don't 'adhere' to as an , I scroll on while keeping the audio. I wish I didn't have to, but I'm not complaining. The music is great.

I just admire the fact that this discussion even exists here as it does, so gently regarding the subtle nuances of offensiveness, while a rap video featuring a white kid being hanged like a slave is currently defining the extents of controversy in media (Google it).

The Pop world is and will always be, by definition, rooted with the primal instincts of our species - sex, violence and their derivatives. Add to that the human spirit, however you wish to define it.
To what intent, to what extent, in what context, that's on us to choose.

You're all very nice people.

Last edited: Sep 16, 2017 18:10:49

Squid wrote:

Stratdancer, Congratulations !! The letter shows that the writer considered you important, so important she had take the trouble to write in detail to you.

Other than that, its only meaning is what to expect if you perform at or for Baldwin-Wallace College. This college received the very mediocre rating of 70% in quality from US News & World Report. That's like a D-plus grade.

Thanks Squid! With a D plus rating how could they even comprehend surf!

The Kahuna Kings

https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Kahuna-Kings/459752090818447

https://thekahunakings.bandcamp.com/releases